How is colón connected to panama city

Drive to Panama City. The route between Colon and Panama City is fairly direct, running roughly parallel to the Canal. It takes around an hour to drive between the two cities, and the road is fully paved. Car rentals, including one-way rentals, are available in Colon. Ride the train. A luxury train operates once per day between Colon and Panama City on what was the first transcontinental railroad.

The train travels through the rain forest and on narrow tracks over the man-made lakes near the canal. Additionally, you will be able to see the locks on the canal in operation from the windows and domed glass roof. You can board the train at the cruise terminal in Colon. Fly into the city. Flights between the two cities take approximately 15 minutes and can be inexpensive.

The airports in both Colon and Panama City are around a mile from the city center. The city experienced a second boom during the construction of the Panama Canal in the early 20th century but again fell into poverty after the construction work ceased.

The city today is two cities: the walled Colon Free-Trade Zone, which bustles with global business, and the poverty-stricken outer city, which is still suffering an economic depression. The Zona Libre is Colon's biggest attraction and is a mega mall of international stores that sell items duty free.

Most of the stores only sell in bulk, and the complex is not really designed for individual tourist purchases. Just outside of town, the Fuerte San Lorenzo is a well-preserved fort that was built by the Spanish in to fend off pirate attacks on the Panamanian trade routes. Shady areas around the fort are limited, so travelers should bring plenty of sunscreen when visiting it. The Gatun Locks raise southbound ships almost feet up to the elevation of Gatun Lake before they travel down to the southern locks and are lowered again.

The city center of Colon is home to both modern hotels that are well stocked in terms of security and amenities and several grand old colonial mansions that have been turned into hotels with a lot of charm, some renovated and some not.

The city center is racked with crime and is not safe to walk at night, and caution is advised even during the middle of the day. The Panama City airport is only about 40 miles from the Colon airport, so it makes more economic sense to connect to Colon by ground. The Terminal de Buses offers direct buses to Panama City throughout the day as well as a variety of buses into the countryside and tourist destinations of Colon Province.

The nearby village of Portobello is a pleasant colonial town with a historic treasure house that once housed much of the gold that the Spanish had plundered from the indigenous societies of the Americas. The village is also home to five Spanish forts that were built to protect it from pirates. Based in San Francisco, Ocean Malandra is a travel writer, author and documentary filmmaker.